Three things to know from Sark: Houston, how the bye week was spent, Murphy and Manning notes
The No. 8 Texas Longhorns made effective use of the bye week. The team was afforded an opportunity to take a mental and physical break, coaches were able to hit the road recruiting, and the emphasis for the all-important second half of the season was prioritized.
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“We’ve got to now reset again,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. “A bye week was one thing. We can’t let the bye week trickle into game week. It was important for us today to go out and have a good practice with the right mental intensity and the right focus, which I think the guys did because that’s what it’s going to take. “
Here are three things to know from Sarkisian’s Monday press conference
Early Thoughts on Houston
Houston’s Thursday night win over West Virginia opened a path to the Big 12 Championship game for the Longhorns, but it at the same time alerted Texas to what to expect at TDECU Stadium on Saturday.
“We know this team presents a lot of challenges,” Sarkisian said. “I think one thing I’ve been impressed with with Coach Holgorsen’s team and how they’ve improved throughout the year. Obviously, had a great game on Thursday night, a very exciting game which we had a chance to watch.”
The Cougars were able to come back thanks to quarterback Donovan Smith, a Texas Tech transfer who led the Red Raiders to victory over the Longhorns last season. Sarkisian mentioned Smith, plus Matthew Golden and Nelson Ceasar as other standouts on either side of the ball.
What Sarkisian noticed when watching that trio and the rest of the Cougars was a team that finished a game similar to his own team’s outing versus Oklahoma, albeit with different results. The final Hail Mary provided Sarkisian with some teaching points for his 5-1 team.
“Ironically, it felt like our game two weeks ago quite frankly,” Sarkisian said. “West Virginia scored with 12 seconds. Fortunately, for Houston, they got the unsportsmanlike conduct foul and got the kickoff moved back. Then it came down to the Hail Mary from the 45 and the ball was able to bounce to them.”
Sarkisian’s lesson for the Longhorns? “I think the lesson learned is that you’ve got to play all 60 minutes,” he said.
If the Longhorns want to travel to Arlington in early December, step one of getting there includes a game versus a scrappy Cougar team coming off a semi-extended break and with some momentum. That is now the Horns’ goal and sights were set upon UH in the first practice after the open week on Monday.
“We know we’ve got a confident football team we’re going to play against in a sellout game on the road, so we’ve got to prepare for the opportunity that lies ahead which I think our guys are well underway with that starting this morning,” Sarkisian said.
Bye week events
While the Longhorns were off on Saturday, they still had responsibilities throughout the week. Most of the practice responsibilities went to the twos and threes on the depth chart, providing younger players the opportunity to compete as opposed to being the scout team look.
“For a lot of our younger players who were really highly competitive throughout training camp and the first part of the season, then had been on the scout team for a couple of weeks, to refuel their competitive spirit and to do a lot of their work competitively, I thought was great to see,” Sarkisian said. “I was proud of the guys in that aspect.”
The work done by those backups gave the staff the chance to emphasize how important being a great player every down was.
“We have a lot of really good players, and they make a lot of highlight type plays,” Sarkisian said. “The areas we’re really challenging that group is consistency because that’s what it takes to be an every down player on a championship caliber team. There has to be consistency.”
Away from the practice field, the coaches were able to get on the road recruiting. Opportunities to see high school games are fewer in number this year after the NCAA cut down the number of evaluation days in April. To see top targets was something Sarkisian and company relished.
“For us to be able to get out this weekend, I loved it. I love getting to games. I love watching guys compete when they’re ahead, when they’re behind, how do they warmup. I got to see some really good football players this weekend that I’m excited that we get to continue to recruit.”
Maalik and Arch
Sarkisian commented on the progress made by Maalik Murphy and Arch Manning in the past few weeks.
“I think Maalik and Arch have continued to grow systematically in a real sense and understanding of what we’re doing,” Sarkisian said. “I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I thought Arch probably had his best practice that he’d had since he’d been here.”
He’d continue, “there’s been great intent in that room with those guys working hard and working with (AJ) Milwee to take their game to another level, because there’s going to come a time — knock on wood — where their number is going to get called on and we’re going to need them to play a high level of football to win a ballgame.”
